final. If the constitution and laws of the nation could be 

 constructed in one way in one state, and have an entirely 

 different construction in another, if the legislative, judicial 

 and executive departments of the government could each 

 give them an independent and authoritative interpretation, 

 then must a mercantile and manufacturing people under 

 such a constitution and laws be poor indeed. The people 

 of Essex, together with those of New England generally, 

 maintained that the United States Supreme Court was 

 such a tribunal, and that its decisions as precedents made 

 the law. An entirely different claim was soon put for- 

 ward by a portion of the people devoted to the single 

 avocation of agriculture, that the decisions of the United 

 States Supreme Court carried no more weight than theii' 

 reasonableness and were binding neither upon the different 

 states or the different departments of the United States. 

 These divergent views existed side by side in warring- 

 companionship till finally settled by the War of the Re- 

 bellion. Settled in accordance with the views early en- 

 tertained by the people of Essex and New England, settled 

 in the only way that made liberty established by law pos- 

 sible in this country. Thus did the commercial spirit in 

 Essex County, and the desire to establish a varied industry 

 here, place her people upon the side of freedom and con- 

 quering progress. 



The love of social order and domestic peace likewise 

 grew naturally from the commitment of the people to va- 

 ried pursuits. These were essential conditions to theii' 

 successful prosecution. Frequent changes in government- 

 revolutions and social upheavals are dreaded by men of 

 affairs. The merchant stakes his enterprises upon his 

 judgment of the future. It often takes years of effort 

 and experiment and the use of large amounts of capital to 

 establish a successful manufacturing industry. Commer- 

 cial changes and financial disturbances are always to bt 

 expected. When to these are added want of confidence in 

 the permanence of the form of government and in the 



